A Study in Scarlet
by AnimeKitty1896
Summary: Brick is far from an honor student, but he definitely knows a thing of two about how to live; which is how he ended up on the probationary list. Blossom's only ever lived for the books and awards. A scholar in the making, she's one grade short of winning the full ride scholarship she needs to live her dreams. And so the two strike a deal: teach each other the ropes.
1. Chapter 1

AK: Me again. And it's another Blossom and Brick Fanfiction. Don't judge.

-Brick-

Blossom's low heeled boots clicked on the hallway floor as she passed me. Always invisible to the smart beauty...

One of my friends said something- really, I couldn't tell since I wasn't listening- and that prompted them all to laugh. I frowned when it became apparent the "joke" was Blossom.

"Not cool, Butch." I slung my backpack over my shoulder and started away.

"Wait, Brick!" Berserk called. "Brat's dad is having a gallery showcasing upcoming artists and photographers. It'll be really bland but there'll be alcohol in the back room- enough for a private party. Want in?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing she wanted into my jeans. She'd probably try and get me drunk, like last time, so I'd blur the differences between her and her almost identical cousin again. Too bad she couldn't sound like Blossom- then, I probably would've given in. But Berserk had messed her voice up in ways miracles couldn't fix. Her voice may be sexy to the other guys she let use her body, but to me it was just too... F**ked up.

"I'll pass." I spotted Boomer, my artsy friend, flipping through his camera as he walked down the hall.

Blossom was checking something- probably school related- on her smartphone and bumped into him. His camera went careening with her and Blossom landed on her plump ass on the floor. The camera landed safely in her lap. Boomer was dazed, still standing.

Then Bubbles, Blossom's BFF, dropped to her knees beside her. "Blossom! Are you okay?" she squeaked.

I made my way over to the scene. Her phone lay on the ground some ways off. I picked it up as a peace offering.

Boomer was apologizing repeatedly, face red and eyes averted. He was shy that way. He didn't really talk to girls, save teachers. And art was his main form of communication. Well, I mused, since he, Butch and I gave up being citywide pranksters.

"I'm fine, Boomer, really. And besides, it's kind of my fault too. I was checking my notes for the presentation in... Where's my phone?!" she searched the ground in a sweep.

I held it up. "Over here, Red."

Her head snapped my way, her severe ponytail of auburn hair bouncing behind her.

I smirked. "Don't you want it back?"

"Yes." She was really talented at talking without unclenching her teeth.

"Then ask politely, Red. I know you can." I taunted.

"Please, return my phone to me."

"'Please return my phone to me,' who?" I smiled.

"Please return my phone to me, Brick." Blossom bit out.

It was a routine sort of thing. I took something of hers and she had to talk to me nicely to get it back. My favorite game.

I handed it back slowly, hooking her wrist. "I love our daily little chats." I stared into her blush pink eyes as she struggled softly.

"Really, I'd prefer it if we made these 'chats' further apart. You know, give each other breathing room." Blossom pointedly hissed.

"I'm hurt that you don't value our friendship more." I snickered.

"I'm hurt that you don't value my personal space more."

"I do."

"You violate it every chance you get."

"That's not all I want to violate." I smirked when she flushed scarlet, finally pulling free.

"Bye, Boomer." She turned on her heel and started off.

"Wait, Blossom." Boomer called. He held out an invitation to her. "Y-you and Bubbles can come on Saturday- if you aren't busy this Saturday, maybe... It's a gallery exposition and I'll be featured, so I wanted to invite my friends..."

If Boomer could be more awkward, he'd take the role in the MTV show.

Blossom accepted and gave him a warm smile. "We'd love to; right Bubbles?"

The blonde girl nodded and smiled shyly at Boomer. "Yeah, what are friends for?"

With that, I watched Blossom saunter off in that naturally sexy walk she had. I threw my arm over Boomer's shoulders. "Nice one, Picasso. Now where's my invite?"

He grinned at me. "But you have to behave. Here, it's at Stellar Gallery."

I glanced at the card and shoved it into my back pocket. "I'll be there; just make sure Blossom stays."

"Sure, if you can help me with one thing..."

-Blossom-

I flipped my hair behind me in Drama class, tapping my pencil against the paper of my notebook. After the hallway fiasco, I had wrenched my hair tie from my hair to have something to stretch in aggravation; of course after two minutes of torture, the poor thing committed suicide by shooting out of my hands and into the crush of feet in the halls (I refuse to believe I killed it).

"Thinking about him?" Bubbles slyly deduced.

"Improbable." But true. I was thinking of Brick Emerson. His dark auburn hair that was a little longer than the norm, his deep red eyes that reminded me of blood beating in a heart, his easy smile...when he was around my cousin, Berserk.

That soured my mood.

Berserk and I never got along. Not even as babies. My parents have video evidence of us as babies, with Berserk trying to push me out of the baby stroller. And another video of Berserk shoving my fifth birthday cake in my face, telling me to shut up before I thanked the entire world for a Barbie doll Dream House. The list of video proof that Berserk and I were enemies since birth didn't end there though. HER parents have a video of me pushing her into the community pool while she was dressed for her cheerleading meet. Also, one of me spraying shaving cream on her hot fudge sundae in lieu of whip cream. Classic.

Needless to say, even as we grew up, the pranks on my part stunted. Berserk just got nastier.

But it was her bad girl ways that attracted Brick, the guy we both liked. And it was her constant put-down of me that made him think I could be toyed with like his own personal stress button to trigger.

I pouted, probably looking premature and petty, but I was staring at Berserk plaster herself to Brick- even though I knew she'd slept with Derrek Rogers last night. How? Well, we live next door and Berserk is very loud...

Brick, fortunately, peeled her off and kept playing Subway Surfer, his favorite game. I only know this because he plays it next to me in French and AP European History.

"And now, I'd like Brick and Blossom to come up and perform the scene."

I jolted, looking from Brick to Mr. Jamison, a little pale. "E-excuse me?" Bubbles whispered that we were running lines from the contemporary play If You Like Me, by E. D. Moor. I started to rise and flip to the page in question, the scene where Melissa and her love interest Avery were meeting at the crossroads, where the houses turn to a trailer park homes. The scenery was cliché but meant to provoke a sense of disparity between Melissa, a good girl from the wrong side who works hard to excel, and Avery, a shallow popular boy who likes the golden lifestyle but longs for Melissa's attention.

"Her?" Brick choked out. He wasn't getting up.

Of course he didn't want to, with me. I take it seriously-regardless of whatever bias grade Mr. Jamison imparts. He swears I'm mechanical and dogmatic in my adherence to the script and not the play's emotional current. It was my only B-.

"Mr. Jamison, maybe I should read with someone else-" _Someone more attentive_. "-like Brandon."

At the mention of his name, the overly-emo kid in the front turned to glare me down. "It's Desolate Sorrow."

I rolled my eyes. Method actors, next week, after he failed the casting call for Vampire sundown, he would be Brandon again. The actual emo teens in our class- Emma and Harrison- glared at him.

"Come now, Mr. Emerson." Mr. Jamison quipped, ignoring me, as usual. "Surely I'm not cutting into your canoodling time with my lesson plan?"

This was one of those days I wish I had read ahead. Instead of having a chunk of act three, scene one memorized, I had to read it. As if I weren't staggered enough already.

I shuffled to the front and waited for Brick to swagger over. Yeah, he doesn't walk, he swaggers. He smirked at me, stuffing both hands into his front pockets and scanning the audience. I keep my eyes in three places: on Brick, on the script and on Mr. Jamison.

"Whenever your ready," the teacher motioned.

I groan inaudibly and start breathing deeper.

"'The stars are so bright tonight'." I blurted.

Shit! That's scene three. Shit! I'm screwed. I am irrevocably screwed. And I cant even blame Brick. How poetic.


	2. Chapter 2

The class was silent, all eyes on her. Trepidation filled Blossom as she searched her mind for something else to do, say, insert over the blunder she had just made. But nothing came out. Instead, she stood there, wide eyed and mouth in an 'o', in disbelief.

Suddenly, Brick started laughing. Incessantly, outlandishly, he laughed. It took her a moment to work out he was laughing at her. Face scorched with embarrassment, Blossom snapped her lips shut and drew them into a hard line.

"Nice one, Pinkie." Brick laughed, calming down some. "Way to give a grand ol' effort. A+ material." He held his sides in a great show of amusement, which predictably set Blossom to furious. "It's nice to know that for all your eggheaded-ness, you're as dumb as they come in the fine arts."

"Excuse me?" hissed Blossom. "Like you could do better."

Brick shrugged. "It's called talent, Pinkie. I got it, you don't."

She scoffed. "If you've got talent, Butch discovered the Avogadro constant."

"The Avocado mustard?" Butch broke in from the back of the class.

Blossom glared at Brick. Yeah, he was hot, but he was a total prick. A total prick who lived to infuriate her.

When she had been younger, she'd thought it was, as her mother had lovingly told her, because he liked her a lot. But after the disastrous Valentine's Day Party of her fifth grade year, she now knew he was just obsessed with annoying her to the point of madness.

"Quit using food to distract from the fact that you can't even act." Berserk sneered.

"I don't need to act." Blossom wanted to scream. Instead, she crossed her arms and said, "And you can do better?"

Berserk slapped both hands onto the desk and rose out of her seat. "Hell yeah, I can. I'm fucking Cameron Diaz compared to you!"

The cousins were locked in a death glare, when Mr. Jamison finally intervened. "Well then, how about a little end of term project to show off these acting chops?"

Blossom broke focus to spin around and face her teacher. "Come again, please?"

"A little contest. A friend of mine, a director from Hollywood, is coming to visit in December. I won't tell you who; it's all very hush-hush. But he is an expert in seeing talent, as Mr. Emerson so dutifully put it, and he's agreed to come see my class for a lecture. A slight change of plans."

"Please, tell me you're joking." Blossom begged. The auburn haired girl was a woman of philosophy and theories, not a bleeding heart. She couldn't act to save her life, but she wouldn't admit it under any circumstances- just like her crush on the prick who caused all of this.

"No joke," Mr. Jamison denied. "You'll be working in pairs or groups. You can act out anything you'd like. From TV scenes to novel excerpts."

"Brick and I will totally be doing Fifty Shades of Grey." Berserk smirked, leering at the russet haired boy gaping at their teacher.

Mr. Jamison leveled a stare at Blossom's cousin "And I'll be making the pairs for this assignment." Expect them in class on Friday." The bell finally rang. "Start thinking about a scene you want to do. You and your partner will have to submit it by next week Friday."

XXX

Brick watched at Blossom fume during lunch to Bubbles, Emma, Boomer, and Rosebud. He'd bet that she was making him out to seem like an asshole. Well, he conceded, he had been an asshole. But only to keep the momentum going. He hated it when the class got that pin quiet overcast to it. It was like a death sentence to anyone and anything. And as much as Pinkie liked to think she was perfect, not even she could survive the Awkward Death Silence.

How was he supposed to know their teacher would make it spiral into a theatrical battle of the wits?

He sighed and bit into the tuna melt sandwich he'd randomly picked up from the lunch line. He chewed for a bit before hacking the wad of sour bread and fish onto the tray. "That is just wrong." he muttered.

"Brick-yy, wick-y…"

Brick tensed at the nickname. He cursed every fiber of his being that made him think even making out with Berserk was worth it. "I told you do NOT call me that."

Berserk plopped down into the seat next to his and pouted. "You're no fun… Hey, let's do a scene for Magic Mike XXL for the competition?" Her airheaded friends Mipsy, Judie and Marie all took seats around him, locking him into place. Damn.

Brick frowned. "Isn't that movie just male strippers' dancing routines with no plot?"

"Yeah, so?"

He groaned. "Besides, we're not paired together." He'd rather be paired with method over-actor Brandon, aka Desolate Sorrow.

"We totally will be. It's, like, fucking fate or shit."

Her simpering friends all nodded in agreement like bobbleheads.

He glanced over at Blossom's table, only to see that the redheaded object of his wet dreams was glaring over at them. He gave a crooked smile in return and she scoffed before stabbing a cherry tomato with her fork. Repeatedly. Ouch…

Never one to shy away from a challenge, he stood and sautered over, leaving the rancid tuna melt behind with equally rancid people. "Ladies, Boomer, Pinkie." He leered at his target, waggling his brows.

"Vermin." Blossom hissed.

"Hi, Brick." chorused the other girls.

"Dude," He and Boomer did a fist bump, then he slid in next to Boomer, bumping his buddy in front of Bubbles and seating himself across from Blossom.

"What are you doing?" she snarled as he picked the little strawberry slices out of her salad.

"Eating lunch. You know, you should feed me better, Pinkie. If you want us to not make complete fools of ourselves in front of Mr. Jamison and his mystery judge."

Blossom frowned. "What?"

"You and me, we're fated to be...partners, that is. The wedding will have to be on a later date. I'm thinking in Hawaii. What about you?"

"Hell…" Blossom groaned.

Brick pretended to consider it. "It'll have to be a bikini wedding. Far too hot for a full dress, don't you think, sweetie?"

"Why are you here?" stressed Blossom.

"Can't a devilishly handsome rogue sit with his best friend and lady of contention?"

Blossom smiled tightly. "Sure, just as soon and you leave and evolve into Mr. Darcy."

He feigned hurt. "Oh Pinkie, you wound me."

"Oh, dick for brains, you nauseate me." Blossom countered.

He smiled, glancing over at a bubbling Berserk at his former table. He returned his attention back to a fuming Blossom, whose cheeks were stained with anger. Now this was a redhead he was born to torment. He settled in for a long and glorious lunch.

XXX

AK: Hey hey hey, Just to let you all know, I will be working hard to get this on the regular. I am literally changing the storyline as we go along. (*whispers*This competition came out of nowhere!)

Blossom & Brick: WHAT?!

AK: Oh look, the characters are back in my head. Time to call my therapist… R&R, people!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: **TGIF...NOT!**

Blossom dreaded Friday. It was marked with a large red skull-and-crossbones in her planner and she had her alarm changed to the Funeral March just for the day. To say she was blowing it out of proportion was a fair statement, but she was fairly certain she would be, pardon her French, fucked over royally.

Another check on her Drama grades proved her submitted essay entitled The Flaws of Romeo & Juliet got her a C, which dropped her grade to a solid B. A 'B', she mentally ranted, I never get 'B's.

'B's could not get her into Van Crest University. Especially 'B's on her elective courses. And Van Crest was the Goal. Not a goal, but THE GOAL, in all caps. It was what her grandfather's alma mater, and all she wanted was to fit the Redman mold. It had been her dream since she was a child duking it out with Berserk in the sandbox over Barbie dolls.

She strode into Drama class, head held high. "Ah, good afternoon, Miss Redman. Take a ball." Mr Jamison instructed. There was a dark box on his desk.

Frowning, and confused as hell, Blossom complied, sticking her hand in and coming up with a dark green ball marked with a yellow three. Blossom chanced a smile. She liked three. It was a prime number that starred in some of her favorite unbreakable laws of math.

Going back to her seat, she showed her number to Bubbles. "Look, I got yellow three."

Bubbles showed her the dark red ball she retrieved from the box. "I got green seven."

Blossom winced. Now she wouldn't be with Bubbles. She chanced a glance at Brick's table, where he absently rolled a purple ball with twelve in bold orange. Berserk had a hot pink ball with a white five on it. She sighed in relief, at least she wasn't paired with Brick. No way in hell could her curse somehow give her the arrogant prick.

XXX

She got the prick. She somehow- and she was not even sure how Jamison managed that- got the prick. Said prick was grinning from ear to ear he sat next to Blossom.

It turns out that Jamison wasn't done with just the randomized ball color coordination. From there he had the students switch balls with their assigned desk mates from the first day of school. Of course, Blossom switched with Bubbles. Brick switched with Brandon (who had failed the callbacks and was now back to just Brandon), which gave him a green ball with a black four on it. Berserk switched with Jennifer, which gave her an orange ball with a teal six on it. Simple, right? Only it didn't end there.

Jamison then had them get into their assigned seats and revealed a seating chart corresponding to their newly gained ball numbers. And then from there, he had them change seats with who had their number from before! It was all random, he assured them.

Random my oxygen dependent ass, Blossom grumbled.

"Alright, now I'll give you the rest of class to brainstorm scenes. The maximum length of time is four minutes. Make sure you tell me by the end of next week." Jamison declared, retreating to his desk.

Brick pounced. "Told you it was fate, Pinkie."

"Please, I'm nauseous enough..." groaned Blossom. "Let's just do a simple Romeo & Juliet, with minimal interaction on our part."

Brick made a negative sound. "How about a scene from 50 Shades. I'll bring the gray tie if you bring the handcuffs?"

Blossom let her forehead hit the desk and let out a groan of utter discontent. She was so going to get a C, a big, fat glaringly average C. And Van Crest would simply be a dream.

"Maybe I can grub some extra points to make it to a C+..." she thought aloud.

"Come on, Pinkie. Just try me on for size… I'll make it worth your while." He waggled his brows.

Her stomach fluttered and her cheeks stained with heat, but she snapped. "Can't you please just try to be professional?"

"Oh, a business fantasy? Can rock it? Do you have that report on company assets for me, Miss Redman?"

"You're taking this wrong on purpose."

"Or I could be the employee… Wanna see my legal briefs, Miss Redman."

"I swear I'm going to kill you if we fail." Blossom vowed.

"We won't fail…" Brick smirked.

"Oh, and I suppose you're just going to pull Leonardo DiCaprio out of your back pocket?" Blossom seethed.

"I was thinking Johnny Depp, but DiCaprio works too." Brick joked.

A louder thud filled the air when Blossom let her head hit the table harder.

"Miss Redman, is there a problem?" Jamison asked from his desk.

Blossom didn't even lift her head to answer. "My life is over!

XXX

"I'm fucked," announced Brick as he slid into study hall- aka the library- with his friends flanking him.

"C'mon," Butch, ever the optimistic goofball, snorted. "Can't be that bad?"

"I got a thirty." Brick growled.

"Out of?" Butch prompted.

"One-twenty." The whole group winced. "Yeh, I thought so…"

"Isn't she letting you retake it on Wednesday?" Boomer pointed out.

"And I'll probably fuck up way less; thanks Boombox. Wanna kick my effing balls next? Make a physical hurt to match the ridicule of not going on the trip to CoCo Beach next month?"

His 'rents had told him he needed to bring up his College Algebra grade to go on the trip to CoCo Beach with his friends. Surf, sand and sun… And best of all, no Berserk lurking under the waters waiting to run into him "coincidentally". That got old after two trips, and after five, it bordered on stalking.

"Chillax, all you need is more tutoring from yours truly." Mitch grinned.

Brick scowled at Mike. "My average dropped because of your 'tutoring'," he muttered darkly. True, Mitch was a math god among them, but he couldn't teach worth shit, apparently.

"Whoops, sorry 'bout that… Well ask Dr. P for a tutor then. There has to be someone who can help you."

They all stayed quiet for a moment before someone coughed, alerting them to a new presence in the area.

It was Mike Believe, their classmate in Chemistry and an all around quiet kid. The kid was loaded, had a chauffeur-slash-bodyguard who took him to school, and was generally found with a fucking ascot around his neck, like now. He "worked" in the library, on study periods, shelving books and generally avoiding human contact. He looked like Boomer; if Boomer were a brunette with freckles and a rounder face, and was also a couple inches shorter. In short the kid was a…

"What do you want, dweeb-shit?" Brick friend, Cole Brawny, snarled. That's what Mike was. A dweeb, not a dweeb-shit, but a dweeb.

Mike shuffled his feet a bit before he said, "You're, uh, standing in front of the comics section."

As one, the group looked back. Indeed they were in front of the comics. Mitch goodnaturedly moved to the side. "Go for it."

Mike mumbled his thanks and went about reshelving the Marvel and DC Comics. Offhandedly, Mike then said, "I think I know someone who can help you with your problem."

"What do you know?" scoffed Cole. Brick frowned. Seriously, he wanted to what beef Cole had with the dweeb.

"I know a tutor who can get your grades up. Real fast, if you put in the work. And I can put in a good word for you." Mike apparently found his balls, because he smirked at them over his shoulder. "For a price."

"You little shi-" Cole went for him but Brick raised a hand.

"What price?" Brick asked, intrigued.

"Take me to CoCo Beach with you."

"No way!" exploded Cole. "This dipshit is not buying his way into the group!"

"Why should we?" Brick demanded, crossing his arms. He looked the dweeb up and down. He had balls, but he didn't look like he was using 'em often if he pulled this.

"I don't want in on your group. I just need a ride to CoCo Beach in November."

"Then ask your daddy dearest."

"I can't, alright!" snapped Mike, before he reigned himself in. "I'll even chip in for gas; I just need to get to Coco Beach. I can get back, but I need an off-the radar transport."

Brick eyed Mike for a moment before he stuck out his hand. "Deal."

"Brick!" Cole hissed, exasperated.

"Stop being a bitch, Brawny." Mitch snapped at the scowling wrestler.

"So who's the magic tutor?" Brick demanded.

Mike smirked again, a weird look on the innocent face. "You'll meet her here, after school on Monday. Bring a Reese's bar, too. She digs those."

"She?"

Mike shook his head. "I have to guarantee my side of the bargain first. I can't have you checking her out and ruining it. I need this ride, Emerson."

"You're a sharp kid. Make a great lawyer someday." Or a politician. Now that was scary.

XXX

AK: Guess who's getting dragged into tutoring Brick?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Art of Bribery

"You had to know it was going to happen," Bubbles consoled Blossom. Well, maybe not consoled, more like explain how the universe fucked with her life.

It was after-school and the Blossom and Bubbles, along with their third friend Buttercup Channing, were in her room, listening to Blossom complain about her fate. Bubbles was seated on her light pink bean-bag chair, BC was straddling her desk chair, and Blossom was an inch away from being sprawled out on her bed.

"I don't want to be partnered with him." Blossom groaned, crossing her legs in front of her.

"Of course you don't." BC smirked. The ravenette haired girl juggled a quartet of apples to keep her hands busy. "You only ogle at his ass every chance you get, drool at his biceps and triceps, have wet dreams about his abs."

So true… "Not true!" Blossom vehemently denied.

"The more you deny it, the more we think it's true.." sang Bubbles.

Blossom flopped back on her bedroom carpet. "I hate you both."

"No you don't!" sang the duet of shippers.

A knock came on the door. Blossom looked up to see it was her father. "Bea, there's a boy downstairs to see you. I think you tutored him last year."

Blossom rocked up to a sitting position, tugging down her skirt. "I'll be down in a second."

"You tutored last year?" BC frowned.

"In Physics, yeah. Dr. Petranova set it up." Blossom informed her friend. BC had been busy preparing for a karate tournament for most of last year.

"Didn't you tutor Mike?" Bubbles inquired.

"You mean that uber rich kid who moved here from Point Summit Academy?" BC wrinkled her nose.

"Stop that, Mike is sweet." Blossom admonished.

Point Summit Academy was a rich private school two counties over. A lot of the people from Summit were stuck up, obnoxious and haughty. Mike Believe was none of those things, and a sweetie pie at heart. He had a vindictive streak, but all around he was a cute kid. Unlike Brick Emerson.

"I'll be back in a bit." she told her friends, slipping on some sandals.

"Bring food." called BC

Rolling her eyes, Blossom descended the stairs to the front door. Mike was rocking on his heels in front of his chauffeur driven Rolls ROyce. Blossom never got used to seeing that.

"Hey Mike."

"Hey Blossom. Is this a bad time?" the brunette asked.

"No, what did you need?"

"You know how you said you'd tutor anyone I sent your way? Swore you would?" At her nod, he sucked in a deep breath. "I need you to make good on that promise. Monday, after school in the library."

Blossom cocked a brow. "Sure, but there's no need to stand on ceremony with me. WHo am I tutoring?"

Mike rocked back on his heels. "It's a… uh…. Surprise! But he really needs the help, blossom."

She couldn't resist the hopeless puppy-dog look he used on her. The bastard knew this, and played it to the max. She sighed, "Fine…"

"Thank you, I shall take your oral word as a solemn vow. One that if you break will break my fragile heart."

"Don't ever become a lawyer, Mike, the Justice System isn't ready for those hazel eyes."

Mike grinned. "Someone told me earlier that politics is an open field for me."

"Good Lord…"

XXX

Brick cocked his head to one side and then the other, frowning at the painting he was looking at. "I still think it looks like a vagina."

Boomer choked on his sparkling- God!- cider next to him. "DUDE!"

Brick shrugged. "It does."

Boomer studied the painting closer. "Okay, yeah it does. But its a vagina painting by Leslie O'Donnell."

"The chick's into feminism or something?" Brick frowned. Why would you paint a huge vagina like that and display. Porn was less descriptive than this painting.

"O'Donnell's a he."

"Tran?"

"Born male. That's him over there." Boomer pointed out a smarmy looking forty year old dude schmoozing with some other guests and attendees.

Brick looked from the guy, to the painting, to the guy and then again to the painting. Then he looked at the name. _Mother's Land_ , the card plaque said. Yup, dude was a fucked up cookie.

"Let's move on…" Brick ushered the young artist away from the intimate depiction of O'Donnell's ode to mother bits. He was so glad he was a C-section baby.

"It's really cool of you to come Brick." Boomer told his best friend. "You know Mitch and Butch only sent cards and shit."

"And miss your artistic debut?" Brick scoffed. "Never!"

"So you're not just here for the promise of a Blossom sighting?" Boomer taunted.

"I'd be here regardless." Regretfully, but he'd be here. It was something he took pride in, being a good friend. Made up for his shitty personality.

"I know you would."

"And you _know_ why Butch isn't here." Brick intoned They were silent for a minute, staring blankly at a painting by Guillermo Salvador entitled _Dystopia._ If not for the coloring and dark shading, the painting would depict a happier scene of a suburban community. Sure the scene lacked vegetation of any kind and the sole child in the entire thing was inhaling from what seemed to be from an oxygen tank… Oh.

Brick moved them to another piece in the exhibit, this one a sculpture. The card plaque read, _pHoEniX_. It was a bird-like thing but had a woman's face. He frowned at the name underneath, Sabrina Jones. The name was familiar… It clicked. "Yo, our old art teacher is on display here?"

Boomer hummed non-committedly. "S'pose so…"

"Sweet, wonder where she is?"Brick smirked.

"Probably in the thick of it." Boomer muttered. "Let's go check out my piece."

Brick raised a brow but let the blond artist lead the way. They came to a colorless portrait of a woman's profile. Her hair spiraled off into nature- branches, flowers, and birds. Inside her chest however, were gears and cogs. _Retrograde_ was the title Boomer had given it.

"That's deep, Boombox." Brick praised his quiet friend.

"Thanks… I hope Bubbles likes it." Boomer said.

"Why wouldn't she?" Brick frowned.

"I dunno… It just seems that every time I make an art piece, she gets this pained expression on her face, before she tells me how great it is, and shit…"

"And yet you still invited her."

"I just- I crave her opinion! Like you obsess over Blossom's attention."

"It's not an obsession." It was more like a drug addiction.

"What isn't an obsession?" teased Bubbles' voice from behind them. The duo turned to see the objects of their fixations behind them.

Blossom was fucking gorgeous in a soft red long-hemmed shirt and black tights with pink ballet flats. Bubbles looked cute in her sleeveless pale blue high-low dress and matching blue flats.

"These mini-quiche." Brick lied easily. "They're a fuckin' obsession." he snatched a few from a waiter and popped them into his mouth. "Delish… Though, not as delicious as you, Pinkie. D'you wear that dress for me?" He waggled his eyebrows.

"As if, Brick-for-brains. I wore it for Boomer's debut. You know, the reason we're here tonight?" Blossom sassed. Oh, he loved it when she sassed…

"That's an amazing painting!" gushed Bubbles, breaking in from the side to stop the tension.

Boomer looked queasy, and Brick formed an idea in his head.

"Really? You like it?" Brick prodded.

Bubbles was all awestruck wonder and amazement. Her big blue eyes sparkled with it like emo-teen vampires in the sun. "It's so amazing. It's like nature meets the machine. Like something out of my fantasies."

From a dude, the comment would be creepy. From a girl, it seems bizarre but hot. From Bubbles, it was a deep profession of love to her STEM-legacy. No one would peg the bubbly blonde as the scientific genius behind our school regional landslide in the STEM Fair last semester, with her theoretical "quantum do-hickey". She'd explained what iit was to them once, but the most 80% of the class had understood was "theoretical" and "quantum"- even brainiac Blossom bowed to the scientific knowledge of Bubbles.

"Oh, really? Wanna meet the artist?" Brick asked.

Bubbles froze then, eyes wide and darting from Boomer to Brick, before she muttered. "Sh**" and darted off.

"Bubbles?" Blossom called.

"I'll be back soon, just-just stay here."

Boomer glared and Brick and then went off after her.

And then he was alone with his personal addiction.

"So…" He rocked back on his heels. "Which sex scene from 50 Shades should we do?"

XXX

AK: Yeah, Brick is a grade A jerk, but it will all make sense once I finish the storyline for Bubbles-X-Boomer's story. R&R, please!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Blossom was late. She knew it as she walked into the library, after school, willing that Mike's "friend" would still be there. She thought back to the party on Friday which had abruptly ended when both boomer and Bubbles returned red-faced and not meeting each other's eyes. Either they kissed and made up (she desperately hoped) or they yelled it all out. Blossom just knew she and Bubbles were done for the night.

Complimenting Boomer on the small amount of the show they had managed to see, she'd ushered her mute-stricken BFF out of the gallery and into the car. Bubbles had mutely flicked through music stations the rest of the way home, nibbling soundlessly on the fries Blossom bought her at the fast food joint they passed on the way.

She honestly didn't know what had happened between her bestie and her sea-blue-eyed artsy friend. One summer in middle school they went to Art & Science Camp together and came back inseparable. The next moment, after Brat took a shine to Boomer's new puberty-graduate self, Bubbles was suddenly playing it safe with her heart- and stomping all over Boomer's in the process. She'd tried to get the story from her blond scientific friend for months afterwards, but the answer was always something vague and sketchy. Meanwhile Brat was trying to hook Boomer with the bribe of a regular spot in the gallery.

She sauntered past the biography section, nodded to the elderly librarian, Mrs Sharkov, who was shaking her hips to Miley Cyrus's latest single- her guilty pleasure- and made her way to the tables by the comics section, where Mike assured her the "friend' would be waiting.

She'd just unpacked her old books and notes for reference, when a shadow fell over her. She looked up and groaned, while inwardly swooning. A sweaty Brick. In a muscle shirt. And panting over her. Okay, she was three-point-twelve milliseconds away from swooning IRL.

"What do you want, Emerson?" she snapped.

"Aw, is that any way to speak to your students, Pinkie?"

Blossom raised a solitary brow. "Student?" Then it dawned on her. "No. Nonono- No way, no how." She started throwing things into her backpack. She couldn't be trusted around him. Her heart would betray her within a minute. In spite of his jerkiness, her heart would literally cave to him if left under the natural smoulder of Brick Emerson.

"Can't back out, Pinkie. Mike's got you on a moral contract." Damn, he was right, she remembered. "And if I flunk College Algebra, I may fall into a terrible academic stupor from which I won't recover until say… February?"

Blossom's eye twitched. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Why yes, Pinkie, yes I am." Brick winked as he slid into the seat across from Blossom.

Blossom contemplated it. He'd flunk her and make her plans for the future null. He would destroy her, the arrogant prick.

"Fine!" she growled, depositing the contents of her backpack on the table without care. "I hope you choke on this knowledge, Emerson."

Brick smirked, "Promise to give me mouth-to-mouth if I do?"

XXX

"We need to choose a scene, Brick." Berserk whined in his ear.

He frowned at the redhead, who was blatantly interrupting his time with the preferred redhead of the day, Blossom. It was Wednesday, and they were in the library at a study table. Berserk had suddenly showed up to bug him with her incessant whining pleas. And just when he was beginning to grasp logarithms. "We're not partners, Berserk." he flatly stated.

Berserk scoffed. "I'll talk to Jamison about that. But I was thinking-"

"That's a first," snorted Blossom at her cousin. It was the first non-math related thing she'd said during their third tutoring session.

Berserk didn't find it funny, glaring at her cousin with venom and spite all rolled into one. Brick snickered. "Good one, Pinkie. You do have a sense of humor."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. You're just not funny, Emerson. Now basic log-"

" _Brick-y_!" whined Berserk, interrupting the explanation once again.

Brick groaned. "What?"

She shot her cousin a distasteful look. "Can we talk? Without an audience?" She pointedly glared at her cousin.

Blossom rose from her seat with her wallet in hand. "Go for it, cousin dearest. Ten minute break, Emerson. I'm getting a snack."

"Get me one too." He gave her a five dollar bill. "Anything as sweet as you will do." he smiled charmingly.

"So, rhubarb chips?" Blossom smiled back, all teeth.

With that he was alone with the redheaded demon. She instantly claimed the seat her cousin vacated.

"So?" he prompted.

She walked two talon-like blood red painted fingers up his arm, making his skin crawl. "We haven't really talked much lately, Brick-y."

He shrugged off her hand. "I've been busy trying not to flunk Algebra." _And avoiding the hell out of you_ , he silently added.

"I saw you at the gallery on Friday. Did I forget to mention?"

"No." She'd mentioned it several times: four times over text, and God only knew how many in person.

"You said you weren't going." pouted Berserk.

"Never said that. Boomer's my boy. I'd never miss his big debut." _I'd just do whatever it takes to avoid you._

Berserk frowned. "Well it seemed like it. If I'd known you'd been there, we could've…" She bit her bottom lip in what was supposed to be a seductive look.

"Bummer." he deadpanned. "I always wanted to shag with a chainsmoker."

Berserk's cheeks turned red. "What is up with you? You've been giving out mixed signals for a while now."

"Mixed to you. Pretty clear to everyone else." Brick shrugged. "I'm just not interested."

She huffed. "Oh I see. It's her isn't it?"

"Who?"

"Little Miss Teacher. Blossom. My cousin."

He snorted. "I'm pretty sure it's just you…"

"Say what you want, but when she dumps you- after she's gone through her little phase- I'll be waiting." With that, Berserk stood and left, passing Blossom on the way back.

"Got lipstick on your teeth, cuz." Blossom loftily sang.

"Fuck off." Berserk hissed.

"That was a pleasant chat." Brick quipped.

"I honestly don't care." Blossom replied, taking her seat again. "Now for some basic log."

Brick smirked as she subtly slid the cinnamon bun across the table to him. "Sure thing, Pinkie."

XXX

AK: A bit short and I'm a day late, but things happen. R&R, please.


	6. Hiatus Notice

Letter to Fans about Hiatus:

Hello _A Study in Scarlet_ fans,

This is AnimeKitty announcing a hiatus for the story. I've got a bad case of writer's block for this storyline, so I'm taking a breather. Sorry about this abrupt pause, but I promise I'll pick back up when I find inspiration. Thank you in advance for your support.

Yours,

AK1896


End file.
